Saturday, March 4, 2017

Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #208

Hi, everyone !!

Those of you who follow the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels for this blog may recall my mentioning, in a recent tweet, that there was to be live coverage of The Academy Awards ceremony via 'NowTV' on Roku... for subscribers to their 'Sky Cinema' Month Pass. You'd think that having a major broadcaster such as Sky involved - who, let's not forget, have also contributed financially to the development of Roku as a company - would at least give some indication that "The Oscars" are very much of interest to film fans in the UK as they are to movie-goers in the United States? Apparently, this must have escaped the notice of the Roku "Theme Team", who (once again) failed to extend their latest featured (i.e. custom) theme to UK Roku devices. Then, to add insult to injury, they shared a photograph of their 'Oscars' theme via social media... enquiring of Roku users: "What do you think of our latest on-device theme?" - or did they share the photo because, without it, UK Roku users would have been unable to offer an opinion? I guess we'll never know... but, for those of you who would like to get a glimpse of the latest Roku theme (not) added to (UK) Roku devices, here is a screenshot:-

HINT: Please CLICK on the above image TO ENLARGE IT for easier viewing !!

So if you'd care to respond to Roku, by venturing an opinion on their "...latest on-device theme", at least you now have a first-hand view of it (albeit, via the above image and not on your Roku device) and can let them know what you think... maybe if enough UK users call them on it, we'll start to see a few more featured themes on Roku devices in the UK, instead of the slowly decreasing number we are presented with year on year? While you're at it... Roku could probably use a reminder that, in the not too distant future, there is an opportunity for them to add a "Mother's Day" theme to UK Roku devices for 'Mothering Sunday' on 26th March 2017. Somehow, they have managed to ignore Roku mums in the UK every year so far... despite remembering (every year) to not add their 'Mother's Day' theme to UK Roku devices when celebrating Roku moms in the U.S. during May each time. Surely, if they can exclude UK for "Mother's Day" in the USA, they can exclude other Roku regions whenever we're celebrating the occasion here in the UK? Anyway, I think you get the point I'm making?!

In other Roku-related news from "The Oscars"... both 'Amazon Video' and 'Netflix' made history at the 2017 Academy Awards, by being the first streaming services in the history of the event to receive an award. In fact, while 'Netflix' bagged one statue for their office mantlepiece, 'Amazon Video' came away from the ceremony having received three of the coveted statuettes... WAY TO GO, AMAZON! For those who may have missed the news, 'Netflix' won in the "Best Documentary Short" category, with their documentary short film, "The White Helmets", while 'Amazon' won for both "Best Actor" and "Best Original Screenplay" with feature film "Manchester by the Sea" as well as winning another for "Best Foreign Language Film" with "The Salesman"... and with 'Netflix' having recently acquired Martin Scorcese’s next picture, while 'Amazon' are known to have dropped big money (we're talking millions, here) on "The Big Sick" at Sundance, it's clear these two streaming services (among others) are going after quality content and are prepared to pay a premium to get it. With that in mind, this is probably not going to be the last time that a streaming service gets acknowledged by The Academy!

Speaking of 'Netflix' and big money spending... their media centre made another announcement in the week, by issuing a press release, to say they would be investing an incredible $1.75 Billion dollars in no less than ninety separate European productions, including original content, co-productions, and licensed content. With Dana Feldman observing, in a recent 'Forbes' article, that speculation is rife as to the suggestion that 'Netflix' may be reaching saturation point in the United States... this massive European investment indicates that Netflix may believe it's best chance at rapid growth is in foreign markets, like those available in Europe, as opposed to the slow progress now being made in USA.

Not to be outdone... 'Amazon' issued their own press release this week, as revealed on 'Businesswire', with the news that their Amazon Video Spring Pilot Season would premiere on 17th March 2017. The plan is for FIVE NEW PILOTS: The Legend of Master Legend, Budding Prospects, The New VIP’s, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Oasis, to debut for all Amazon customers in UK, Germany, Austria, Japan plus USA to stream and review. The new pilots come from prominent creators including Amy Sherman-Palladino, Micah Fitzerman-Blue, Noah Harpster, Terry Zwigoff and Steve Dildarian, andfeature prominent actors including Rachel Brosnahan (House of Cards) and Tony Shalhoub (Monk) in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; Richard Madden (Game of Thrones), Haley Joel Osment (The Sixth Sense, Alpha House) and Anil Kapoor (Slumdog Millionaire, 24) in Oasis; John Hawkes (Winter’s Bone), Dawnn Lewis (Major Crimes) and Shea Whigham (Boardwalk Empire) in The Legend of Master Legend; Joel David Moore (Bones), Will Sasso (MADtv) and Brett Gelman (Fleabag) in Budding Prospects; Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation), Matt Braunger (Agent Carter), Missi Pyle (Gone Girl) and Jonathan Adams (Last Man Standing) in The New V.I.P.’s.

There were one or two other Roku-related news stories during the past seven days... such as the news from Google about their new "YouTube TV" streaming service, with details shared via Google Blog, and a private data leak, as reported by 'Wired', which arose from a software bug affecting Cloudflare that, according to Lifehacker, could impact on millions of websites... and has already resulted in the announcement of a Security Update from Plex, published via their blog, which is one of the most popular DLNA servers used by owners of Roku streaming media players as well as NowTV Boxes. Since these are peculiar to certain Roku regions, or specific use cases, I will not expand further on those issues here... but recommend you follow the links and read the articles that may concern you.

As with other recent 'Weekly RoundUp' posts, I'm also going to ask you to refer to the companion Twitter Feed: @ukrokuchannels for details of some special offers which may well be of interest. In particular, there is a great deal on the latest 'Roku 2' [Model: 4205EU] which is (currently) available via Maplin for only £49.99 - equivalent to a saving of £20.00 on this UK Roku device - and is worth a look if you're not interested in the additional features (private listening, motion control for gaming plus "point anywhere" WiFi Direct operation) provided by the enhanced Roku remote that is supplied with the flagship 'Roku 3' [Model: 4200EU]. I also posted details of the access codes for some more private channels (again, available in all regions) among the other bits & pieces shared via Twitter... so, as always, it's worth looking back over my recent tweets for a few extra treats! ;-)

Moving on... the list of new additions includes four channels that, despite being new to UK Roku devices, are not listed in the "New" category (i.e. genre) of the Roku UK Channel Store. As I've said before, I love discovering apps like these... because they illustrate precisely why it's worth reading the 'Weekly RoundUp' posts on this blog. Any Roku users who simply rely on whatever they see listed under the "New" category in the built-in channel store of their streaming media players (to identify the latest apps for UK Roku devices) risk missing-out on channels like this altogether. Other websites offering Roku channel listings will base their contents on the Roku USA Channel Store, which means they also include apps that are unavailable to Roku UK users. So, if you really want to know what's available to UK Roku users channel-wise... be sure to read this blog every week! ;-) :-)

Before I run through the new channels... a brief reminder that UK Roku users are still subject to restrictions (imposed by Roku) and (bizarrely) remain unable to access the channel descriptions from the web store on the Roku (USA) website. That said, the majority of text in those web listings can also be found within the individual descriptions from the built-in "Channel Store" (accessed via "Streaming Channels" from the main menu) on all Roku devices and, together with the associated screenshots (where available), should give a pretty good indication of what those channels are about.

My advice to any UK-based readers of this blog is to ignore the links below (and to the left of) each channel icon shown below and (instead) rely on the link to the right (below each channel icon) which (where available) will redirect you to an 'Roku Guide' review for additional details on that channel. As it stands, the links below (and to the left of) each icon are (currently) only of use to readers of this blog from the USA. This means that Roku users from the other "supported" regions of the world (i.e. Ireland, Canada, France and Mexico) are, like those of us in the UK, unable to browse the Roku Web Channel Store - which for now (at least) remains an exclusive privilege of Roku users in the USA. :-(

Hopefully Roku will (one day) wake-up to the fact that improving the experience for users in "other" Roku "regions" is just as important as it is for those who buy & use their products in the U.S. and denying access to the Roku website does not help the end-user experience for those of us (outside the USA) who wish to browse the web channel store. Meanwhile, that which Roku (apparently) doesn't want UK Roku users to see on their website (i.e. the list of new channels) is regularly summarised on this blog in my 'Weekly RoundUp' posts. So, without further ado, here's my 'Weekly RoundUp' of all the new Roku channels which were released between 26th February and 4th March 2017:-

PLEASE NOTE:- That this 'Channel 62' app for Roku devices is actually an updated / re-branded version of an earlier release on Roku devices, called the "Oklahoma Underground" channel, which was featured in my 'Roku UK Channel Store - Weekly RoundUp #185' from October, last year. As such, you will find that the links provided (above)... one to the official channel description from the Roku (USA) Web Channel Store, and another to a corresponding 'Roku Guide' review, both point to the earlier incarnation of this channel developed by 'Bearded Dragon Productions' who, it now seems, have undergone a re-branding of their own... preferring to use the name 'Creative Innovations Media' for their developer credit this time around. Fortunately, the current version remains FREE-TO-ADD as well as FREE-TO-STREAM on Roku devices... so, rather than read an outdated review, it may be better to add this 'Channel 62' app to your Roku and see for yourself what the channel has to offer! ;-)

PLEASE NOTE:- That, while this "Faithlife TV" channel is new to UK Roku devices, the developer originally added it to the Roku (USA) Channel Store several years ago now and (consequently) you will find that the channel icon featured in the 'Roku Guide' review (see link above) no longer matches the one shown here. Given how that 'Roku Guide' review (of the original channel) dates all the way back to March 2014, you may also find that not all of the details apply to the current version. Should you wish to add this "Faithlife TV" channel to your Roku, you won't find it in the "New" category of the channel store... so, to avoid scrolling through 600+ channels in the "Religious" genre, I suggest using the built-in Roku "Search" feature to find and install the app on your streaming media player(s).

PLEASE NOTE:- That, as with the "Faithlife TV" channel above, while this "Calvary Hanford" app is new to UK Roku devices... the developer originally added it to the Roku (USA) Channel Store more than four years ago now and (consequently) you will find that the channel icon featured in the 'Roku Guide' review (see link above) no longer applies to this current version, which is why I have chosen not to include it here. Given how that 'Roku Guide' review (of the original channel) dates all the way back to October 2012, you may also find that not all of the details apply to the current app. Should you wish to add this "Calvary Hanford" channel to your Roku, like "Faithlife TV" (above), you won't find it in the "New" category of the channel store... so, as with the "Faithlife TV" channel, you can avoid scrolling through 600+ channels in the "Religious" genre to add it, by making use of the built-in Roku "Search" feature to find and install this app on your streaming media player(s).

PLEASE NOTE:- That, while this "Cantinflas TV" channel is FREE-TO-ADD to Roku device(s) and does include content (currently ten titles) that's FREE-TO-STREAM on Roku, the info provided in the "Official" Roku Channel Store description states that this channel, "May require additional fees", so please be aware of this possibility when selecting future content via this channel. That said, all of the videos available at launch can be streamed for free... so, it could either be a mistake (regarding the possibility of extra charges), or it may be a safeguard against any costs which may be applied to future additions within the video library of the "Cantinflas TV" channel? Only time will tell! ;-) :-)

PLEASE NOTE:- That, for some (as yet) unknown reason, this "Prophetic Ministries Today" channel appears to have escaped the attention of the folks at 'Roku Guide' who (thus far) have not published any review for this latest release from the app developers at 'Lightcast.com'. Needless to say, once the details of any such review have been made known to me, I will add the "missing" link to this article. Meanwhile, please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that may result from it's absence.

PLEASE NOTE:- That, due to the fact this 'Fireworks Channel' was not added to the "Official" Roku (USA) Channel Store until after the publishing deadline for the current crop of 'Roku Guide' reviews, there is (currently) no active link to any such review of this channel. Needless to say, once the details have been made known to me, I will add the "missing" link to this article in due course. Meanwhile, please accept my apologies for any inconvenience that may have been caused by it's absence.

PLEASE NOTE:- That, having checked the channel numbers for each category, it has come to my attention that another (as yet) unidentified channel has been added to the "Religious" genre. However, in order to determine the name of this channel, a full audit of the six hundred plus apps that populate the category must be undertaken. As this will take quite some time, I have been unable to provide any links or details prior to publishing this post. Needless to say, once I've determined what this "missing" app is, I will (of course) update this article with the relevant information. Meanwhile, please accept my apologies for any inconvenience which may have been caused by the absence of those details.